MILEPOSTS #1062

By Ken Brafman, Image from the CA Governors Library

TITLE: ROBERT WATERMAN – RELUCTANT PIONEER: The destiny of our mountains was shaped by early, true pioneers. The Mormon settlers arrived in the 1840s and in the early 1850s laid down what was the beginnings of the roads we travel on. Succeeding them were miners, loggers, developers, entrepreneurs, all of whom would continue to develop and build communities stretching across the mountain scape. Robert Whitney Waterman was born on December 15, 1826 in New York. His family soon moved to Illinois. He visited California in 1850, did some gold mining, then opened a store near Yuba City. He returned to Illinois for a period, became a prosperous storekeeper and newspaper owner and joined the fledgling Republican Party. He returned to California in 1873 with his wife, Jane, and their seven children. They soon settled down in the San Bernardino foothills where he bought land and established a ranch in the canyon. His wealth increased with the acquisition and development of 17 silver mining claims just north of Barstow. Waterman’s main interests were in mining and ranching, not in developing his ranch into a resort. His ranch was used as a summer retreat, and he preferred that the property remain natural. Waterman’s summer home was of modest size and his guests occasionally used the facilities of the nearby Arrowhead Springs Hotel. Waterman refused permission for anyone to travel through his canyon as long as he was alive. And it wasn’t until after Waterman’s death that the Arrowhead Reservoir Company was able to purchase that old logging road built by the Mormons and reopen it. The road was then widened and re-graded in order to bring material through ‘Waterman’s Canyon’ and up the mountain for the building of Little Bear Dam, which helped create today’s Lake Arrowhead. This week’s image is an official portrait of Governor Waterman. He served one term and died in April 1891 at age 64, five months after leaving office.

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